Room 1013

The Talk

Lance took a couple looks over at the stand-offish Keith. He sat with his head on his elbow as he stared out the glass. He had removed his mask and cracked the window, taking deep breaths of fresh air. His face was much slimmer without anything covering it.

Lance let out a long breath and clicked his teeth. "Are you, uh," he tapped on the steering wheel, "are you ever going to actually meet me?"

Keith glanced over at him for a second then stared at his feet. He pulled his sleeves over his hands. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it and shrugged instead.

Lance found the action cute, and it brought a little smile to his face. "Well, uh," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I know you remember me."

Keith's eyes widened and he turned toward him, opening his mouth again.

Lance smirked, "Your mom told me."

He lowered his eyes to his shoes again. "Sorry." He spoke so low, Lance almost didn't hear him.

"For what?"

"For," his eyes flickered up as his fingers hid in his sleeves, "for slamming the door on you."

Lance was perplexed by his strange bipolar behavior. One minute he was glaring at him and the next he was shying away like an abused dog. "That's alright."

"I," he closed the window and returned the mask to his face. "I do remember you. It's just-"

"Awkward?"

Keith hesitantly nodded, "I just don't really know what to say. I mean," he turned his body to face him, "Why are you even here? I haven't seen you in like ten years."

Lance held up a finger, "Seven, actually."

"Yeah, whatever." He frowned slightly. "But seriously, why are you here?"

Lance took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts. After a moment of recouping, he locked eyes with him, "Do you wanna go somewhere and talk?"

"You know," Keith sat down between the two beds in the hotel room, "When you said 'go somewhere' I didn't think it would be to your room."

Lance had his back to the other bed, facing Keith. "Oh please, I barely know you."

Keith's once cocky face dropped into a frown, "Yeah." He pulled his legs up to cross his arms over his knees. "So," he looked around the room in thought, "Should we just ask questions or?"

Lance nodded, "Yeah." They sat in silence for a moment until he motioned to Keith, "You can start."

Keith moved the hair away from his eyes, "Oh, okay. Um-" He fidgeted with his position, then rested his chin on his knee. "How much do you remember from the hospital?"

Lance ruffled his hair, "Not much. I just started getting flashbacks or something recently."

"I see." Keith gave him a nod and averted his gaze.

"Um," Lance shifted his weight, "so you came to see me, then?"

Keith picked at the worn carpet, "Yes."

Lance waited for a reply that never came, deciding not to push.

"Where do you live now?"

"Tennessee."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? Like Nashville?"

Lance shook his head, "No, a small town. Cleveland."

"How are y-"

"Ah," Lance cut him off with a raised palm, "it's my turn. And I get two."

Keith rolled his eyes, "Sure, whatever."

He brought his knees up to hug them loosely, "Have you always lived here?"

Keith lowered his legs and nodded, "Yes. The hospital is very familiar with me."

"Hmm," Lance thought out loud. He inspected the attractive folds in Keith's clothes. "What's your favorite movie?"

Keith locked eyes with him, tilting his head. "Really?"

"Just answer the question."

Keith hesitated with a faint smile, "Dead Poets Society."

Lance waited for a moment, "Well, aren't you going to ask mine?"

He scoffed, "I'm not wasting a question on that." He flipped his hair out of his eyes. "How are you doing? With the car accident and such."

Lance nodded, "Healed. Other than a slight limp." He rolled his ankle as he explained. "What about you?"

Keith picked at the carpet more, "What about me?"

"I mean," he shifted his weight and lowered one of his legs, "why were you in the hospital? And why do you wear masks? And why was your hair shaved when you were little?"

Keith stopped him with a raised hand before he asked any more questions. He let it drop and tucked his hands between his knees. His fluttering eyes looked up at him through his eyelashes. Every syllable was sounded out as if he was annoyed to be answering and refused to repeat himself. "Chronic Myeloid Leukemia."

Keith relaxed and looked up at the ceiling, "Had it since I was a kid. In and out of the hospital." He tapped his lips, "I wear a mask to keep me from getting sick. My hair was shaved when they did chemo."

"But that was so long ago." Lance's head ached at the thought.

The corners of Keith's mouth twitched, "When I was a kid-and I had just been diagnosed-any treatment we tried didn't work." His eyes blinked slowly as they remained glued to the ceiling. "That went on for a while-but luckily, one day, one of them did. I was supposed to die when I was, like, eleven, but since we got results, I've lived a lot longer."

"So you're cured, then."

Keith gently closed his eyes and shook his head, "No." He stared back up at the ceiling, "and I don't think I'll ever be."

"Are we-" Lance stopped himself to let out a nervous chuckle, "Um, are we friends?"

Keith raised an eyebrow, "Friends? We're practically strangers."

Lance waved a finger at him, "Not necessarily. We knew each other as kids."

"I watched you sleep." Keith's sharp eyes finally relaxed as he joked with him.

They laughed at the situation for a minute. Lance loved Keith's laugh. It was gentle and calming, which was so unlike his personality. His hair fell over his closed eyes and his nose crinkled. His hands would fold up and hold his bouncing chest. Lance gasped for breath, "I know! I know! It's such a weird situation." He rubbed his eyes. "I just don't know how to get close to you."

Keith's sparkling crystal eyes met Lance's as he held back a smile. "You want to get close to me?"

"Well," Lance stammered and rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean-I guess so. Yeah."

A slight blush pulled from Keith's skin as he watched the fidgety Lance. His lips parted slightly before he started to speak. "Hey Lance?"

Lance raised his eyebrows to reply.

The upturned corners of Keith's mouth twitched, showing off little flashes of his white teeth. "What's your favorite movie?"